Latest news with #DmytroBodyu
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Putin tells new pope Kyiv seeks to escalate war, urges Vatican support for Moscow-linked church in Ukraine
Russia wants the Vatican to "take a more active role" in advocating for what it described as freedom of religion in Ukraine, specifically for members of the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Kremlin said in a statement on June 4 following recent diplomatic contacts. Russia's war and occupation of large swaths of Ukraine have led to hundreds of churches being damaged or destroyed, dozens of priests killed or kidnapped, and entire religious groups that don't conform to Moscow's brand of Orthodoxy being banned - all while promoting the Kremlin-controlled Russian Orthodox Church. Sixty-seven clergy members of various faiths have been killed between the start of Russia's all-out war in 2022 and February 2025, the Foreign Ministry said in April, citing the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance. Moscow has also been suppressing independent Ukrainian churches and other religions, including the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church, Protestant and Muslim groups, and Jehovah's Witnesses, according to Ukrainian officials. Putin also noted that "that the Kyiv regime is banking on escalating the conflict and is carrying out sabotage against civilian infrastructure sites on Russian territory," the statement read. The Kremlin also expressed gratitude to the Pope for the Vatican's readiness to assist in resolving what it called the "crisis" (referring to Russia's war against Ukraine) particularly on humanitarian issues handled "on a depoliticised basis." Putin also reportedly noted a progress in recent direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials regarding prisoner exchanges and the return of fallen soldiers' bodies. The Kyiv Independent's "No God but Theirs" examines the systematic persecution of Ukrainian Christians in Melitopol — a city in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Oblast, occupied by Russia since February 2022. The film details how both Protestant and Catholic churches were banned and dispossessed of all property by occupying Russian forces. Clergy were either deported or compelled to flee under threat, while others were falsely accused by Russian propaganda of storing weapons and ammunition. As a result, many members of the religious community were forced to practice their faith in secrecy. The Kyiv Independent spoke with four Christian leaders from Melitopol: Bishop Dmytro Bodyu of the Pentecostal Church "Word of Life," Father Oleksandr Bohomaz of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and Pastors Mykhailo Brytsyn and Ihor Ivashchuk of the Baptist Church "Grace" whose testimonies provide new details of Russia's targeted repression of Ukrainian Christians. Watch more here: We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Detention, pressure, threats — US pastor in Ukraine tells the Kyiv Independent about his encounter with Russians
Dmytro Bodyu, a U.S. citizen and the pastor of the "Word of Life" Pentecostal Church in Russian-occupied Melitopol, was detained by Russians in March 2022. During his detention, he was accused of working for the CIA and received death threats from the Russian military. Only an intervention by the U.S. State Department saved him. "On the morning of March 19, several military vehicles and a couple of civilian cars stopped outside our home. Around 15 Russian soldiers were in full gear, wearing balaclavas and carrying shields... They treated me like a Mexican drug lord. They jumped over the fence, went through neighboring yards, and entered from all sides at once," Bodyu recalls in an in-depth interview for the Kyiv Independent's new investigative documentary "No God But Theirs." The pastor and his family were warned by the U.S. Embassy and given advice to leave Melitopol one month before the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine started. But Bodyu decided he could not abandon his Church. During his detention, Russian special services repeatedly accused him of working for the CIA and demanded that he disclose his call sign and his "handler from Langley," he says. "It felt like being in a psychiatric ward — you're an absolutely normal, healthy person, but they try to convince you that you're a schizophrenic, you just don't know it, and that soon you'll realize you're exactly where you should be," Bodyu recalls. Meanwhile, Russian soldiers threatened to kill him. They took whatever they wanted. There are no laws; nothing functions in the occupied territories. "The soldiers said: 'We have orders to shoot you. Now, we will question you. We know who you are, what you are. You're a CIA employee, a spy. You gave away our positions, our people died because of you. You led protests in the city, you're giving money to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, you lead the partisans here' — things like that," the pastor says. After eight days, his time in detention was cut short. Read also: Russia's persecution of Ukrainian clergy is part of an organized genocidal campaign "We had an interrogation (with an FSB operative) during the day, and in the evening, he comes in and says, 'Well, that's it, you're going home.' And I'm like, 'What do you mean? That's unexpected.' He says, 'It was unexpected for us too, believe me.' I ask, 'So who decided I should go home?' He says, 'They decided up top.' I say, 'What do you mean? God decided?' He says, 'No, Moscow decided to release you.'" After his release, Bodyu and his family left Melitopol. They are now living near Kyiv. In Melitopol, his Pentecostal Church "Word of Life" was officially banned by the Russian occupation authorities a day after Christmas — on Dec. 26, 2022. The Church's building is now occupied by a department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Russian authorities also confiscated all of Bodyu's businesses (he owned seven cafes and restaurants in Melitopol). "I call them pirates. That's what they are — pirates. They took whatever they wanted. There are no laws; nothing functions in the occupied territories." Bodyu says. In the investigative documentary "No God But Theirs," the Kyiv Independent's journalists also identified several officials implicated in the persecution of Ukrainian Christians in Melitopol. Besides Dmytro Bodyu's Church, the Russian-occupation authorities also banned several other Churches — Melitopol's largest Protestant Church "New Generation," the Baptist Church "Grace" and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church subordinated to the Vatican. They were stripped of all property, and their buildings now housed different Russian institutions. We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
